Police mourn slain constable

=======Provincial Constable Vu PHAM=======


Source: The Spec
Shooting started when police pulled over vehicle on rural road

March 09, 2010
The Canadian Press
WINTHROP, Ont. (Mar 9, 2010)
A provincial police officer was shot and killed yesterday when pulling over a vehicle in rural southwestern Ontario, an incident witnesses said set off a close-range gunfight between the suspect and officers.

Constable Vu Pham, 37, was shot and "immediately incapacitated" after taking the "initiative to intercept" the suspect shortly after 10 a.m., said OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino.

"It is with a sense of loss and deep regret that I'm informing ... that we lost officer Pham. He succumbed to his injuries a short while ago at hospital," said Fantino late yesterday afternoon.

"We are rallying around the family to make arrangements to truly express our appreciation to one of our heroes."

The officer was confronted by an armed suspect when he tried to stop the vehicle near Winthrop, Ont., about an hour north of London, said Fantino at a news conference earlier in the day.

"Officers in close proximity to the scene located the suspect. The suspect was also shot in the incident," he said.

The suspect, who was in hospital, is believed to be in his 70s and charges are pending, said Fantino, adding no other officers were injured in the incident.

Reports said Pham, who was rushed by air ambulance to London Health Sciences Centre, suffered a head injury.

A 15-year veteran of the force, Pham was a married father of three. His wife, Heather, and their sons Tyler, 12, Jordan, 10, and Joshua, 7, were with him when he died.

"(It's) just a very sad time for all of us. And our deep condolences go out to the family, Heather and the children especially," Fantino said.

It's up to the family whether Pham will have a full police funeral, police said.

When asked about the condition of the suspect, police referred calls to the province's Special Invest- igations Unit, which is probing the shooting.

Under the Criminal Code, the murder of a police officer is considered first-degree murder regardless of whether it was planned or deliberate. First-degree murder carries a life sentence upon conviction with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Eyewitnesses said 15 to 20 shots were exchanged between an officer and the suspect from across a two-lane rural road.

"The guy (was) laying in the ditch and the police officer was on the other side of the road in the ditch but he was standing up and they were both shooting back and forth at each other," Faith Weber, of nearby Brussels, told radio station CKNX.

"When I was there there was probably about five, six shots that already went off, and then we had to move back farther and then there was more shots going off."

Weber said more police arrived and the gunfire ended.

"After the shooting was done there was six, seven cops over where the guy was laying in the ditch, and he wasn't moving. I didn't see him moving at all after that."

Pham is the 104th OPP officer killed in the line of duty since the force's inception 100 years ago. Twenty four, including Pham, were fatally shot and one was fatally stabbed.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Pham joined the force in 1995 and has worked in the Cochrane and Parry Sound detachments. He was posted to the Huron County detachment.

Police had shut down the two-lane highway yesterday where the shooting took place, an area of farm fields sparsely dotted with homes.

Fantino noted police were preparing to gather today for the funeral of Peel Region police Constable Artem (James) Ochakovsky in Mississauga.

Ochakovsky died of his injuries in a Toronto hospital last Tuesday after his marked cruiser ended up wrapped around a light standard following a collision with another vehicle.

He was the first Peel Regional Police officer to die on duty in 25 years.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday's shooting was an "opportunity for all of us just to reflect on how much we count on these men and women every single day to go out there and put it on the line."

Special Investigations Unit spokeswoman Monica Hudon said OPP officers "became involved in a standoff with a man at 82352 North Line in Huron County."

"The man was wounded and has been taken to the Victoria Hospital in London for treatment. Six investigators and three forensic investigators are investigating this incident."